Baby Chick Food

[Yorkielady67]

I have 12 chicks that were born on May 30th. They are currently housed in a big shed sized coop with a year old Silkie. We feed them chick food and also give our Silkie eggs. They have been eating it too, will it harm them?

 

[21hens-incharge]

Do you mean March not May?

Who is eating what that worries you?
Chicks eating eggs or broody silkies eating chick feed?

 

[Yorkielady67]

Yes, I meant March, oops!
Sorry I wasn’t clear, I wash worried about the chicks eating eggs. My daughter thought she read somewhere that it was bad for young chicks to eat anything other than chick food.

 

[azygous]

Let's see if I understand your question. You have chicks you say were hatched May 30. That would make them almost a year old. So you likely mean they hatched April 30. Right? So they would be about a week old?

If the chick food you are feeding them is a commercial chick starter, it is nearly identical to an all flock feed. In other words, they are interchangeable. You can feed adult chickens chick feed and you can feed baby chicks all flock feed. Because they are practically the exact same thing.

All chickens can eat eggs.

It's a silly notion that baby chicks would be harmed by eating eggs. What do you think nourishes them in the egg during the three weeks they are developing as an embryo in the shell? The egg yolk is their main source of food in the shell, and they are still absorbing it into their bodies for a few days after they hatch. Of course they can eat eggs.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Cooked eggs are a decent treat for chicks. I would not worry about them eating some.

 

[Yorkielady67]

Thank you for your responses.

My chicks were born on March 30th.

I felt like it was fine, the chicks eating eggs but my daughter read that it was bad for the babies.